The
winner will be offered a publishing contract with Virago as well as two hours
of mentoring by novelist Jill Dawson courtesy of Gold Dust mentoring.

For
a chance to feature on the Virago list, writers have been asked to submit a
5,000-word sample and a 500-word synopsis via the website.

Entries will
be judged by Baker and Savitt, as well as by novelist Erin Kelly, author
of The Poison Tree (Hodder), literary
agent Jo Unwin, journalist Coco Khan, and Emily Iredale, development executive
for Scott Free, the London branch of Ridley Scott’s TV company. The winner
will be announced in September.

Savitt
said she hoped the competition would bring to light a "smart, nail-biting, provocative novel",
believing the genre had evolved to explore
more feminist issues."I believe crime and thriller authors are
exploring women’s lives in a particularly interesting way at the moment, and
the genre is overlapping with conversations in feminism about consent, domestic
violence, gender roles and much more, which feels stimulating and is producing
great stories," said Savitt. "I am hoping to find a smart, nail-biting, provocative novel in that
tradition through our competition in partnership with The Pool. I am grateful
to all of our wonderful judges and am confident we will find some brilliant new
talent."

Baker,
who is also a judge for 2017's Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, said the
competition combined The Pool’s mission to celebrate women’s voices and
bring them to a wider audience, with her own passion for crime and
thrillers." Female crime writers -
from Patricia Highsmith to our judge Erin Kelly - have been asking difficult
questions of our society for decades, and now, more than ever, the world
requires unflinching scrutiny. I’m excited for the talent we might uncover,”
she added.